Around Christmas 2022, it suddenly seemed like the 100ml liquid rule at airports – which was introduced after a terror threat with a liquid bomb at London Heathrow in 2006 – would be scrapped across Europe, thanks to new 3D scanners and enhanced X-ray tech that were able to identify explosives.
It was great news for travellers, of course, as the new screening equipment – officially called C3-standard Explosive Detection System Cabin Baggage (EDS-CB) – would make airport security much more efficient by reducing queues and delays. Lots of countries announced plans to gradually introduce it, and several already have. In April last year, London City Airport began using the ‘C3’ scanners, and Leeds Bradford announced plans in November to do the same in the new year. Ireland is trialling it at airports in Dublin and Cork, and they’re already in place at Shannon Airport.
In the US, this tech is nothing new – Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson and Chicago’s O’Hare airports have been using it for years. Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport also relaxed liquid rules thanks to the scanners back in 2021, and Rome Fiumicino Airport and Leonardo da Vinci International Airport are two more hubs in Italy that have rolled out the C3s.
Many more were hoping to have implemented this new tech before the 2024 summer season, but lots of major UK airports are lagging behind – you can read more about that here.
There are other European airports set to scrap the 100ml liquid rule, however. Two Spanish airports – Madrid Barajas and Barcelona El-Prat – are making the change this year, so travellers will no longer have to think about limiting liquids and removing electronics from their bags.
Palma de Mallorca airport should follow by the end of the year, and then it will be onto making the changes at Malaga Costa del Sol in 2025.
It’s thought that London Gatwick and Heathrow should have implemented the changes by early next year, too.
Paris-Orly airport has been trialling the tech in its Terminal 3 since October, and that will continue until the same time in 2024. Geneva airport has also begun experimenting with the new tech, but no permanent implementations have been announced yet.
So, it’s a pretty mixed bag so far, but we’ll keep you up to date as more and more airports enlist the help of this tech. Hopefully, it’ll soon be saving us all quite a lot of time.
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